Business services platform solutions for small and medium enterprises

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing business services solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned by merchants in developed markets and in developing markets. In some embodiments, a merchant enrolls with a merchant issuer financial institution (FI) and then receives an SME financial account, a suite of shared SME business service applications, and access to a payment card acceptance service for use in setting up and scaling their business. In an implementation, the process includes receiving a request for an SME business platform, validating merchant identification data, providing an SME financial account to the merchant, transmitting an SME business platform acceptance message, and transmitting an SME business platform to the merchant device. The SME business platform includes a payment card account acceptance application and at least one business services application configured for running on the merchant device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request for a small to medium enterprise (SME) business platform, wherein the request includes merchant identification data of a merchant;   validating the merchant identification data;   providing an SME financial account to the merchant;   transmitting, by a processor to a merchant device of the merchant, an SME business platform acceptance message; and   transmitting, by the processor an SME business platform to the merchant device, wherein the SME business platform comprises a payment card account acceptance application and at least one business services application configured for running on the merchant device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the merchant identification data comprises at least two of a name of the business, a business address, and tax identification information. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein validating the merchant identification data comprises:
 determining that the merchant qualifies as an SME; and   determining that the merchant passed a credit check based on business financial records of the merchant.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the merchant qualifies as an SME when the merchant identification data indicates that the merchant operates one of a micro-business, a small business or a medium size business. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to validating the merchant identification information:
 determining, based on the merchant identification data, at least one of that the merchant does not qualify as an SME and the merchant failed a credit check; and   transmitting, by a processor to the merchant device, an SME business platform request denied message.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, periodically transmitting, by the processor, business data to the merchant device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the processor, business data on demand to the merchant device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SME business platform comprises a Premier SME platform module when the request originates from an SME in a developed market, and comprises a Basic SME platform module when the request originates from an SME in a developing market. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the Premier SME platform module comprises a cash register application, a cash register reconciliation application, an inventory management application, a cash-flow accounting application, a purchasing application, an offers management and business analytics application, and an online marketplace application. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the Basic SME platform module comprises a payment card account acceptance service, an inventory management application, a cash-flow accounting application, a bill payment application, an airtime top-up application, a card issuance and linking application, and an agent cash-in cash-out application. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SME financial account comprises at least one of a business debit card account and a business credit card account. 
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 a merchant device;   a merchant issuer financial institution (FI) computer in communication with the merchant device; and   a payment processing computer system in communication with the merchant issuer FI computer;   wherein the merchant device transmits a request from a merchant for a small to medium enterprise (SME) business platform to the merchant issuer FI computer, the request including merchant identification data of the merchant, and wherein the merchant issuer FI computer validates the merchant identification data, provides an SME financial account to the merchant and transmits an SME business platform acceptance message to the merchant device; and   wherein the payment processing computer system transmits an SME business platform to the merchant device, wherein the SME business platform comprises a payment card account acceptance application and at least one business services application configured for running on the merchant device.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising an SME server computer in communication with at least one of the payment processing computer system and the merchant device, the SME server computer operable to provide one of a Premier SME business platform or a Basic SME business platform to the merchant device. 
     
     
         14 . The system  claim 13 , wherein SME server computer is operable to generate the Premier SME platform module comprising at least two of a cash register application, a cash register reconciliation application, an inventory management application, a cash-flow accounting application, a purchasing application, an offers management and business analytics application, and an online marketplace application. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the SME server computer is operable to generate the Basic SME platform module comprising at least two of a payment card account acceptance service, an inventory management application, a cash-flow accounting application, a bill payment application, an airtime top-up application, a card issuance and linking application, and an agent cash-in cash-out application. 
     
     
         16 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a payment facilitator computer from a merchant device, a request for a small to medium enterprise (SME) business platform, wherein the request includes merchant identification data of a merchant;   validating, by the payment facilitator computer, the merchant identification data;   transmitting, by the payment facilitator computer to a payment processing computer, the request for the SME business platform and the merchant identification data; and   providing a Basic SME business platform to the merchant device.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising providing an SME financial account to the merchant. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the SME financial account comprises at least one of a business debit card account and a business credit card account. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the merchant identification data comprises at least two of a name of the business, a business address, and tax identification information. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein validating the merchant identification data comprises determining that the merchant qualifies as an SME. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the merchant qualifies as an SME when the merchant identification data indicates that the merchant operates one of a micro-business, a small business or a medium size business. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the Basic SME business platform comprises at least two of a payment card acceptance application, a cash register application, an inventory management application, a bill payment application, an airtime top-up application, a cash-flow accounting application, a card issuance/linking application, and an agent cash-in/cash-out application , 
     
     
         23 . A system comprising:
 a merchant device;   a payment facilitator computer in communication with the merchant device;   a payment processing computer system in communication with the payment facilitator computer;   at least one merchant issuer financial institution (FI) computer in communication with the payment processing computer system; and   an SME server computer in communication with the payment processor computer system;
 wherein the merchant device transmits a request from a merchant for a small to medium enterprise (SME) business platform to the payment facilitator computer, the request including merchant identification data of the merchant, 
 wherein the payment facilitator computer receives the request for the SME business platform from the merchant device, validates the merchant identification data and transmits the request for the SME business platform and the merchant identification data to the payment processing computer; 
 wherein the payment processing computer communicates with the SME server computer and the at least one merchant issuer FI computer and arranges to provide a Basic SME business platform to the merchant device; and 
 wherein the at least one merchant issuer FI computer provides the Basic SME business platform to the merchant device. 
   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , further comprising at least one consumer issuer financial institution (FI) in communication with the payment processing computer system, the consumer issuer FI configured for authorizing consumer purchase information transmitted by the merchant device via the payment facilitator tot the payment processing computer system. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the SME server computer is operable to generate the Basic SME platform module comprising at least two of a payment card account acceptance service, an inventory management application, a cash-flow accounting application, a bill payment application, an airtime top-up application, a card issuance and linking application, and an agent cash-in cash-out application. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the merchant issuer FI computer also provides an SME financial account to the merchant. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the SME financial account comprises at least one of a business debit card account and a business credit card account.